Inequality is measured two ways, by income and by wealth, and the wealth gap is far wider.
The concentration at the very top is so extreme that a tiny sliver of humanity owns more than the entire bottom half combined.
TL;DR
- In 2025, the richest 10% received about 53% of global income, while the bottom half earned just 8%.
- The global top 10% owns about 76% of all household wealth, and the bottom 50% owns just 2%.
- The top 0.001%, fewer than 60,000 people, owns three times more wealth than the entire bottom half of humanity.
The inequality figures here come from the World Inequality Database, which combines tax, survey, and national-accounts data.
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Income versus wealth
| wdt_ID | wdt_created_by | wdt_created_at | wdt_last_edited_by | wdt_last_edited_at | Group | Share of global income (%) | Share of global wealth (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 09/08/2026 12:38 AM | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 09/08/2026 12:38 AM | Top 10 | 53.00 | 76 |
| 2 | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 09/08/2026 12:38 AM | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 09/08/2026 12:38 AM | Middle 40 | 38.00 | — |
| 3 | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 09/08/2026 12:38 AM | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 09/08/2026 12:38 AM | Bottom 50 | 8.00 | 2 |
If the world were ten people sharing $100 of income, the richest would take $53, the next four would share $38, and the remaining five would divide just $8.
Wealth is even more lopsided than income, because wealth accumulates and compounds across generations while income is earned year to year.
Why wealth concentrates so severely
Wealth is stickier than income.
Assets like property, stocks, and businesses grow over time and pass down through families, so advantages compound.
Within almost every region, the top 1% alone holds more wealth than the bottom 90% combined.
This is why wealth inequality tends to exceed income inequality everywhere, and why it is so resistant to change without deliberate policy.
The U.S. ranks among the most unequal advanced economies, with the top 1% holding about 40% of national wealth, a larger share than in any other major industrial nation.
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ELI5
The world’s money is split very unevenly.
The richest tenth of people earn about half of all income and own about three-quarters of all wealth.
The poorest half earns a tiny slice and owns almost nothing. Wealth is even more unequal than income.
Sources
World Inequality Database via Al Jazeera | Chancel, World Inequality Lab | World Inequality Database (2)
